China has certainly invaded the world with its products, from toys to PCs and mobile phone transmission networks. But there are those who argue that China is also transforming the world, or at least Europe, with its philosophy of life. Proof? There is a 'Confucian revolution' underway in Europe, argues a German scholar who works at the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University.
First, a secularization of customs is underway in Europe, and this departure from formal religions is combined with Confucianism, which is a philosophy rather than a religion, a code of conduct for that harmonious coexistence to which Europe aspires.
Second, the education system: the Bologna Accords of 1999 aim to unify a fragmented public education system, as China has already done in the past, giving space to meritocracy and not to lineage.
Thirdly, filial piety is resurgent in Europe and recourse to rest homes for the elderly is no longer 'normal'. In China, family ties are close and long-lasting, and Europe is moving in that direction.
So far the arguments of our. However, they seem to want to force into the mold of an assimilation to Confucianism what are evolutions moved by deep currents, whose roots sink into an ancient European cultural humus.
